NAC&U to Present Boyer Award at AAC&U Annual Meeting This Month

NAC&U welcomes all attendees to join us on Thursday, January 23 at 1:30 p.m. for the presentation of the 2014 Ernest L. Boyer Award at the annual AAC&U meeting in Washington, DC. This year’s recipient is Dr. Edward L. Ayers, president of the University of Richmond and nationally renowned American historian.

To honor the memory of Ernest Boyer, each year NAC&U recognizes an individual who has made significant contributions to higher education and whose ideas will be celebrated for generations to come. Ayers was selected because of his extensive work in the field of digital humanities scholarship, which has far-reaching impact on both faculty and students as well as the general public.

About Edward Ayers

Ayers has played a pioneering role in digital scholarship since the inception of the field in the early 1990s, overseeing the “Valley of the Shadow” project. The project details life in both a Northern town and a Southern town during the Civil War and allows open access to a digital archive with thousands of original letters, diaries, newspapers and speeches as well as census and church records. Ayers’ dedication to digital scholarship continues through his collaboration with the Digital Scholarship Lab based at the University of Richmond, where he is president and professor of history.

Ayers is a noted historian, author of ten books, and recipient of numerous honors and awards, including the National Medal for the Humanities awarded by President Obama. He has also won the Bancroft Prize for distinguished writing in American History, the Beveridge Prize for the best book in English on the history of the Americas since 1492; and was a finalist for both the National Book Award and the Pulitzer Prize.

Following the awards presentation, Dr. Ayers will present a session titled “The Future of Scholarship.”

Other Sessions at AAC&U

Colleagues throughout NAC&U will present at the annual AAC&U meeting. Sessions include the following:

National Coalitions of Small and Medium Institutions as a Path to Sustain Residential and Liberal Education

The New American Colleges & Universities (NAC&U) is developing policies to promote inter-institutional collaboration, innovation, and resource sharing with the goal of providing students with enriched curricular offerings through domestic and international exchanges, cross-institutional collaborative undergraduate research opportunities, and virtual specialty courses. Inter-institutional collaboration will promote faculty exchanges, collaborative research, collaborative proposals for external funding, and sharing of innovative approaches to student learning. Inter-institutional collaboration may also lead to reduced costs for various back office activities. Panelists will discuss NAC&U strategies to pave the way for easy cross-institutional registration, tuition, financial aid, and professional development opportunities for faculty.

Moderator: Nancy Hensel, President, New American Colleges and Universities

This session is presented by the New American Colleges & Universities (NAC&U)

Better Together: Higher Education Consortia and the Future of Change

What is the future of inter-institutional cooperation in the current higher educational environment? Leadership of three active consortia consider the political, strategic, cultural, economic, and educational costs and benefits of working collaboratively. It is truism that collective action aggregates expertise, talent, economic resources, and will, but what are the mechanisms that make such leverage lasting and effective? What do all of us in higher education gain when institutions choose to work together?

James Hall, Executive Director of the Consortium for Innovative Environments in Learning, University of Alabama; Nancy Hensel, President, New American Colleges and Universities; Timothy Eatman, Faculty Co-Director, Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life; Bill Spellman, Director, Council of Public Liberal Arts Colleges

Project Pericles works with provosts and faculty to enhance links between the curriculum, campus, and community. Creating Cohesive Paths to Civic Engagement, a project, to inventory, map, and develop more integrated programs for civic engagement and social responsibility creates pathways for students (including those in humanities and STEM) to integrate civic engagement into their education. The project enhances curricular and co-curricular programs that strengthen critical thinking, skills, social responsibility, and active engagement where students bring theory to practice. Audience and panelists will discuss replicable best practices, challenges, and solutions. Survey matrix and questionnaire developed for the project will be available.

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The New American Colleges and Universities is a national consortium of selective, small to mid-size independent colleges and universities dedicated to the purposeful integration of liberal education, professional studies, and civic responsibility.